Ellemental: Art, Culture and Recovery

In October 2010 I gave a talk on a panel at the Calandra Institute Italian American Mental Health Conference in Manhattan. After this presentation I wrote a 10-page chapter that was included in the recovery section of Benessere Psicologico: Contemporary Thought on Italian American Mental Health.

The focus of what I covered in my chapter was the effect of culture on my recovery. Most Italians are loving, giving individuals interacting enthusiastically with others.

Of course there’s Benessere Psicologico or psychological wellbeing when you share a meal together which has health benefits.

Italy is a land historically of Artists like da Vinci and Michelangelo. At the workshop I attended in Cetara there were painting and sketching hours.

At one of our dinners al fresco that is outdoors on a balmy night I asked one of our instructors about whether things have changed since I gave the talk in 2010. I told them that at the conference was an Italian psychologist who told us there’s a degree of shame and in Italy no one talks about mental illness or calls it that.

The psychologist had said Italians use the term esaurita nervoso instead or nervously exhausted to talk about a mental health issue. She recounted the avoidance of the reality of what’s going on when an Italian needs help.

Giovanni the instructor said: “This has gotten better.”

How my Italian culture in America has enhanced my wellbeing is that there’s a community of writers that has welcomed me with open arms. I’ve been part of this extended family for 26 years so far.

In fact, according to research the brain of a creative person is on average 4 to 7 years younger than the brain of a person who isn’t creative. And creative people live longer apparently.

The researchers say these findings call for “creativity to play a greater role in public health.” As “creative activities are affordable, enjoyable, and present in every culture.”

My contention has always been that everyone can be creative. Act, sing, strum a guitar or dance and you’ll have a younger brain plus feel good expressing yourself.

At Cetara the lemons I painted in an art session I think looked like brown potatoes. The art instructor told me seeing how I created the lemons: “You paint like the old masters.”

The point is that you don’t have to be Picasso to be proud of your creations. And making art can be as simple as how you compose outfits every day to wear. Or in how your cook up pasta or pierogies or pastitsio in your kitchen. That’s why it’s called the culinary arts after all.

I say it’s time to face reality: if you or I need help for a mental health issue we should reach out to get help. This can be hard. It took me five years of dialing around to clinics and offices before I found a therapist to treat me. The benefit is that she’s Italian.

Yes—I think it’s OK to want to talk to a treatment provider who shares your race, ethnicity, or language.

How does this sound: striking a sound bowl or meditating or singing in a choir? Whatever calls out to you as a passion make it a habit to engage in that practice regularly.

Like a magnet I have attests: Find something you like and do it forever. In a world of seemingly near-constant changes and upheavals in society, isn’t it reassuring to know that Art has been around for centuries?